Several new laws passed by Minnesota lawmakers in 2026 — aiming to address fraud, grooming of minors, impersonating officers and domestic violence — are set to go into effect Saturday, Aug. 1.

At the same time, a few of the state’s new statutes, such as the first-in-the-nation ban on AI nudification technology and a prediction market ban, are seeing challenges in court.

After an advocate and a lawmaker discovered they had eerily similar experiences with grooming by their band teachers 50 years apart, a new bill will establish grooming of a minor as a felony effective Aug. 1.

The anti-grooming package also makes grooming convictions grounds to revoke an educator’s license, adds grooming to mandatory abuse reporting requirements and creates stricter supervision rules on school field trips.

Some of those provisions already took effect July 1.

A new law will increase the penalties for threatening to disseminate private sexual images. The law will now account for whether the sextortion threat contributes to a victim sustaining great bodily harm or death, and will allow up to 15 years in prison.

“Carter’s Law” was brought forward after the suicide of Carter Bremseth, 16-year-old from Olivia who fell victim to a sextortion hoax. “Sextortion” is when an offender messages someone on social media pretending to be an individual interested in a romantic relationship, asking for explicit images.

Once those images are received, the offender threatens to release them unless money or more explicit images are sent. Advocates say Carter’s experience is increasingly common with minors.

A 2025 law allows agencies to withhold payments from participants for up to 60 days if there is suspicion of fraud. That law is set to expire in 2027, so Minnesota’s new law going into effect Aug. 1 repeals the expiration date, as well as the 60-day cap.

It also lowers the “evidentiary standard” required for agencies to withhold, and an agency’s decision can no longer be appealed in court; the participant can submit an “administrative reconsideration.”

It’s one of several anti-fraud measures lawmakers passed in the 2026 session, including establishing a statewide Office of Inspector General.

Several laws going into effect aim to address concerns victims of domestic violence and advocates brought forward to lawmakers. Those include allowing officers 14 days to arrest a person accused of domestic assault who flees the scene; previously it was only 72 hours.

Another new law tightens the surrendering of firearms by domestic abuse offenders. The new law requires transfers of those firearms “as soon as reasonably practical” to local law enforcement, a federally licensed firearms dealer or a third party who doesn’t live with the offender.

Third-party transfers are required to be completed at a law enforcement agency, and offenders must file proof of the transfer with a district court. Courts must also hold a compliance hearing within 10 business days of a transfer order. The law comes after lawmakers found little compliance with the state’s existing firearm surrender statute for domestic abusers.

The penalties for impersonating a peace officer will increase from a misdemeanor to a felony, with different sentences depending on the seriousness of the offense. For example, if a person impersonating an officer operates a vehicle marked as “police,” penalties are up to five years, and if a person uses a gun while impersonating an officer, the penalties are up to 10 years.

Vance Boelter, who pleaded guilty in June to shooting lawmakers and their families on June 14, 2025, carried out his acts while disguised as a police officer. The increased penalties are just one of several new statutes Minnesota lawmakers have passed in response to the shootings. Others include increased Capitol security and funds for personal security.

Minnesota’s first-in-the-nation ban on AI nudification technology was challenged Tuesday by one of Elon Musk’s companies, xAI, on Frist Amendment grounds. In the lawsuit, Musk’s xAI argued that the law is “an overbroad, content-based ban on free speech and the tools of visual expression in a clumsy attempt to prohibit ‘nudification.’ ”

At a press conference on Wednesday the bill’s authors and advocates said that unless a judge issues a preliminary injunction before Aug. 1, the law should still go into effect.

In a news release late Friday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office said a judge denied xAI’s request for the injunction.

“I am surprised that Elon Musk’s attorneys had time to file a lawsuit in Minnesota yesterday, because they were sued three different times for this exact conduct that is now illegal in the state of Minnesota,” said Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, author of the bill in the Senate. “I cannot believe we are having this conversation.”

Maye Quade said she worked closely with several other companies while crafting the legislation and “not one” tech company said the ban would hurt their business model.

“I expect that the courts will see that this law has been very, very well crafted to protect First Amendment rights while also protecting Minnesotans from image-based sexual abuse and being turned into child sexual abuse material,” she said. “The law was written specifically to do that, and I hope that it will withstand judicial scrutiny and go into effect on Saturday.”

Rep. Jess Hanson, DFL–Burnsville, author of the bill in the House, blasted Musk over the lawsuit.

“When the richest man in the world comes after us and says that he doesn’t want this, the question we really need to be asking is why did he ever allow it in the first place? Why is this a feature of AI that he’s fighting back against?” Hanson asked.

Another law that was set to take effect on Aug. 1 but has since been halted by a judge is Minnesota’s ban on prediction markets. The federal government argued the state doesn’t have the authority to regulate the markets.

The judge in that case said the law will either take effect or be struck down when the final ruling comes in; but for now, Minnesota should not enforce the prediction market ban. Authors of that bill said they’re optimistic Minnesota’s statute will stand.